Post by ladeda on Oct 25, 2007 11:12:09 GMT -5
“I think this is something good,” said Pavan, who led NU with 17 kills. “I think we were starting to think we were better than we were.”
Huskers on receiving end of rout
BY TODD HENRICHS / Lincoln Journal Star
Wednesday, Oct 24, 2007 - 11:11:13 pm CDT
AUSTIN, Texas — Asked following Wednesday’s stunning loss to Texas what it meant to be swept, Sarah Pavan had a fitting response.
Only it’s not appropriate for the newspaper.
Just know this: Nebraska’s senior All-American was keenly aware of the magnitude of fifth-ranked Texas’ volleyball victory here, not to mention being a bit stunned by the domination evident in the Longhorns’ 30-22, 30-25, 30-20 win at a sold-out Gregory Gym.
Top-ranked Nebraska, having played nearly two months without losing a single game, led three times the entire night and never later than 9-8 in any game.
“We hadn’t really been pushed all year, we got pushed tonight and we didn’t know how to push back,” said Nebraska coach John Cook. “It’s disappointing, with this team, that they couldn’t find a way to push back.”
A Texas team energized by the crowd of 4,286, the largest since Gregory Gym was reconfigured, played like the title contender that many expected the Longhorns could develop into.
Texas coach Jerritt Elliott said it was the first win that shows “some legitimacy” for a program that has been attracting a bevy of top recruits since his arrival from USC seven years ago.
The stars all came out Wednesday. Destinee Hooker proved unstoppable offensively on what turned out to be the best hitting night for an opponent against Nebraska in Cook’s tenure.
But as impressive as that .371 number is, defense is where the Longhorns really shined.
“They were digging everything,” Pavan said. “Their defense did some great things, and we didn’t.”
Indeed, it was a Texas-sized whuppin’ that required a dig through the record books. It was the first time Nebraska had been swept by a Big 12 Conference opponent since 1997 and the loss ended a laundry list of other streaks:
n Nebraska had won 29 straight matches,
n Swept 17 straight opponents,
n Won 53 consecutive games,
n Won 22 straight matches on television,
n And defeated 20 straight ranked opponents.
And to make matters worse, NU’s 30-20 loss in game three was the worst defeat in 410 games for Nebraska dating to a 30-15 loss at Colorado way back in 2003.
Although a bit taken aback by the loss, Cook said it was something he saw coming even as Nebraska has continued to roll to victories. The latest came Sunday when the Huskers crushed No. 11 Hawaii in Lincoln.
On Wednesday, however, Nebraska did not pass well enough to do what it hoped to do on offense and didn’t stress Texas enough with its own serve to slow down the Longhorns. Jordan Larson was benched for part of game two and Tracy Stalls struggled to get untracked.
“We’ve lost our edge,” Cook said.
That certainly wasn’t the case for Texas, which even came away the clear winner in the psychological battle at the net between Hooker and Pavan.
Hooker, nicknamed “TV-D” because of her knack to come up big in televised matches, said she only smiled when Pavan blocked her early in game three and let her know about it. Hooker answered with a block of Pavan two rallies later, one of 12 on the night for the Longhorns, and pounded one of her 17 kills on the next point.
The NCAA high jump champion said she had an extra “pep” to her step Wednesday, in part because she was suspended and had to sit out the teams’ first meeting, when NU won 30-24, 30-17, 30-25 in Lincoln.
That night, Texas was also without Ashley Engle, who since returning from an injury suffered at Texas Tech last month, has helped the Longhorns to 11 straight wins.
“The hardest thing for me was to convince Ashley and this team that we’ve got time,” Elliott said. “I felt like this team had the biggest room for growth of any of the top teams in the country, and I still think we can get better.”
Texas (15-3, 11-1) moved into a tie for first place in the Big 12 standings. The Longhorns, who got 13 kills from freshman Juliann Faucette and 14 digs apiece from Michelle Moriarty and Alyson Jennings, haven’t won a league title since 1997.
Nebraska (19-1, 11-1) has a week to think about Wednesday’s setback, a match in which the Huskers were outdug 64-43 and hit a season-low .145.
So much for talk of Nebraska being one of the greatest teams ever.
“I think this is something good,” said Pavan, who led NU with 17 kills. “I think we were starting to think we were better than we were.”
Reach Todd Henrichs at 473-7320 or thenrichs@journalstar.com.
www.journalstar.com/articles/2007/10/25/huskerextra/volleyball/doc471ff10cb605a304614273.txt